Southern Plains Productions Reveals 2024 Season

Oklahoma City arts-production company Southern Plains Productions has announced its 2024 season, which includes a pair of Pulitzer Prize-recognized stories.

In June, Southern Plains Productions, in partnership with the OKC Pride Alliance, presents the Jonathan Larson rock musical Rent. Inspired by Giacomo Puccini's 1896 opera, La bohème, Rent follows a group of young, impoverished artists struggling to find their way in late-1980s New York City under the shadow of HIV/AIDS.

Rent made its Broadway debut in 1996, winning that year's Pulitzer Prize for Drama and the Tony Award for Best Musical en route to a 12-year run that made it one of the longest-running Broadway shows in history.

With its large cast and storied reputation, Rent is a challenging production for any theatre company, especially a small nonprofit in only its fourth season. But Artistic Director Jackson Gifford says the show is as relevant today as when it first appeared in the 1990s.

"Rent is a show about community," Gifford said. "At a time when our society seems so divided, I think it's important that we bring people together to celebrate our common humanity. We need to support each other. We're all in this world together. Rent is an artful and unforgettable reminder of this."

Kylan Durant, president of the Oklahoma Pride Alliance, agrees.

"Rent tells a really important story about community and how much we need it," Durant said. "We LOVE seeing this type of art in Oklahoma."

Direction is by Cameron King, the New York City creative whose past work includes directing Southern Plains Productions' 2022 presentation of Lizzie: the Rock Musical. For King, the opportunity to explore the concept of community in a show like Rent is uniquely appealing.

"Even if for just this evening, this minute, or this next cup of coffee, the time we have together is sacred," King said. "I hope people walk away with more gratitude for their friends."

Southern Plains Productions presents Rent June 7-9 at the Oklahoma City Farmers Public Market, 311 S. Klein. Tickets at southernplainsproductions.org beginning April 27th.

In August, SPP presents the Oklahoma premier of the Clare Barron play, Dance Nation, a finalist for the 2019 Pulitzer Prize in Drama.

The show spotlights a troupe of pre-teen competitive dancers who are plotting to take over the world. But in this raucous pageant of ambition and drive, these young dancers have more than choreography on their minds. Every sequence is a move toward self discovery and empowerment.

Dance Nation has been described as "refreshingly unorthodox" in its exploration of youth dance culture and its effects on adolescent bodies and minds. Among other questions, the show asks audiences to consider the demands we place on young females participating in competitive dance and how this shapes our attitudes and values about identity."

Acadia Barrengos, director of Southern Plains Productions' presentation of Dance Nation, said the play was one of the first she encountered that showcased the "messiness of girlhood and childhood and tweenagedom" both in form and content.

"As someone who grew up dancing, I think the dance world is a useful metaphor for what it is to come into one's body and identity through a mirror and/or a teacher's perspective because we've all experienced our childhoods having to come head to head with society and consciousness," Barrengos said.

Dance Nation runs August 15-17 in the Civic Center Music Hall's Little Theatre, 201 N. Walker. Tickets are available beginning April 27th at southernplainsproductions.org.

Southern Plains Productions is a professional, 501(c)3 non-profit arts-production company serving Oklahoma City. We seek to reimagine live theatre with innovative artistic experiences that spark conversations and bring our community together. southernplainsproductions.org

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